New member with an interesting story.
Thank you for the warm welcome, everyone! To be completely honest I'm a little overwhelmed, as I haven't received anything like this on any other forum I've been on, past or present.
You guys/this place is special, so again...thank you!
To answer some questions, and in no particular order:
Apparently the engine ran really rough and overheated. Bazza put-in three different water pumps, multiple thermostats, and a new radiator. But no joy, so he thought the engine was bad (head gasket, etc) and started taking it apart in preparation to removing it. Starter, valve covers, rockers & shafts, the front of the engine (alternator, belts, drives, etc), radiator...all taken out. And then he got sick.
Night before last I tried checking the timing chain "slop" via turning the crank and watching the distributor, but there's no oil film on the crank and I couldn't turn it smoothly enough to get an accurate reading on the balancer (more on this in a second). However, I was able to snake my inspection camera in the fuel pump hole, and while I could see (and feel) some slop, I was REALLY happy to see the cam gear didn't have plastic teeth! So there's hope....
I have my doubts about using the OEM balancer for timing as well. I mean, it's 50+ years old....
What do I need? Need to get the engine spinning over so I can do a compression test, and if that's ok I'm pretty sure I'm going to throw a timing gear/chain set at it, plus a new harmonic balancer, but other than it's still too early to tell. Last night I put the rockers and shafts back-on, and the starter, in the hopes that turning the engine over will get me a film of oil on the crank so I can get a more accurate read on the timing chain slop. But the battery was too tired....
(And another Thank You for the PM!)
Here's the engine compartment as it sits right now (note the battery charger clamp, lower RH corner):
View attachment 1716116691
I have no idea, but the center caps say something else (I forget what it is, unfortunately.)
But this is kinda cool: Last night I found a small photo album of the car in the glove box that Bazza (apparently) took to car shows, and those same wheels have been on the car from dang near Day One, as far as I could tell!
(LOL!) That's kind of what I'm wondering myself, as I'm debating on how much "road testing" I should do with it before it goes back to Bazza! I mean, how cool would it be to drive this thing around?
But it's not mine, so....
